Dear Bernard,
Thank you for your question. It hasn't been answered for quite a time,
and I think that the reason is, that nobody likes to be the bearer of
bad news.
Getting as inexpensively as possible out of a lease depends on the
contract you're on and on the possibilities you have. Have you read
your contract carefully? There are different exit-point in each lease
contract. It also depends on how much energy you'd like to invest in
it.
Many contracts enable you to reassign the lease contract - you have to
check, perhaps yours, too, enables that. As much as you'd hate to hear
it, terminating the lease (the regular, costly, way), might be the
best legal and price-worthy solution:
"The process of assigning a lease can be more costly and
time-consuming than terminating a lease. As well as finding the new
tenant, you will need to negotiate with both the new tenant and the
landlord.
[...]
If you lease has less than two years to run, it is often preferable to
terminate the lease to avoid the costs and risks of assigning it.
However, assigning a lease is usually the best way of realising any
value the lease has. While sub-letting can be a way of improving your
cashflow, it is not a satisfactory way of getting out of a lease. The
original lease remains in force, and you retain all your liabilities."
(SOURCE: TLT Solicitors, Getting out of Lease
<http://www.tltsolicitors.com/FAQs/Getting-out-of--lease/P5950.asp>).
TLT solicitors, at the link abovementioned, also have lots of other
lease-related advices that might help you (despite the fact that most
of them are real-estate related, they will be still helpful):
TLT Solicitors, Getting out of a Lease FAQ
<http://www.tltsolicitors.com/FAQs/Getting-out-of--lease/>
CarCost Canada has similar advices:
"Attempt to sell the lease vehicle privately. Make arrangements with
the dealer to facilitate the retail sale (for a small fee). This will
provide the lessee with the retail value for the vehicle, which is
generally 10 to 15% more than the wholesale value. (Remember, dealers
can only offer fair wholesale value for used cars)."
(SOURCE: CarCostCanada,
<http://www.carcostcanada.com/1104/en/menu/purchase.asp?mark=getting>).
I cannot vouch for this site, but Lease Trader offer to trade your
lease and get you out of the contract:
Lease Trader
<http://www.leasetrader.com/>
Lease Boys
<http://www.leaseboys.com/> - offer the same thing, in Canada.
This is of course cost-effective only if your payments to the current
leasing company are higher than what is asked at Lease Trader (which
is also costly).
There are also special provisions in special cases:
Now, if you haven't been informed that this is a leasing agreement
(and thought that this is a regular purchase with down payments),
there's a chance that a lawyer would get you out of it. Again, you
have to consider your payments vs. lawyer fees and the chance that
you'll lose.
Again regarding real estate, but could be also relevant for cars, the
Washington Post provides information on special lease provisions for
military personel, who cannot know when they'll be sent overseas:
Diplomats Don't Have an Automatic Easy Out
<http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A8489-2004Mar19.html>
I hope that this answered your question. Please contact me if you need
any clarification on this answer before you rate it. My search
strategy has been to search for terms such as "getting out" with the
combination of "lease/leasing" and with or without an "a" before the
leasing related terms. |
